Chapter 125: He Cleared Out All Our Food

Xiao Lingye had no inkling whatsoever that their team’s food supplies were running low.

He was never the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with.

The only reason he’d managed to climb to his current position was because he’d started out with a huge stockpile of supplies.

On top of that, he was muscular and strong.

Compared to five years ago, when he worked as a driver for Ying Ruoying’s family, Xiao Lingye’s physique had grown several times over.

But his brains hadn’t kept pace.

Shi Yuebai was the one responsible for clearing out Xiao Lingye’s food.

As soon as food became scarce, chaos was sure to break out in Xiao Lingye’s “elite” team.

But every time she went to move supplies, she could hear Xiao Lingye’s impotent rage.

Yet his fury was never directed at the dwindling food.

Instead, he was always angry that none of the people he’d sent to kidnap Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao had ever returned.

He was so mad that he’d developed blisters on his lips.

He stubbornly believed that those missing people had defected to other teams.

It never once occurred to him that the people he’d sent to the Shi family to snatch people had been killed by that group of old, weak, sick, and pregnant folks.

Xiao Lingye’s team had originally had close to 400 people.

Not counting the women.

To them, women didn’t even count as people.

Now, there were barely more than 350 left.

Which just went to show how many people the other team had secretly lured away from Xiao Lingye.

He was furious, desperate to find the mastermind behind it all.

Kidnapping Da Jiao and Xiao Jiao had become a secondary concern.

Xiao Lingye was convinced he had plenty of food, enough to fill up an entire food tent.

He believed the other team couldn’t match his strength, so he was eager to crush them before they could grow.

By the time Shi Yuebai handed the ring made by Guai Guai to Ying Ruoying, she had already cleared out eighty or ninety percent of Xiao Lingye’s food tent.

The tent had once been stuffed so full of food that it bulged at the seams.

Every day, there were people assigned to fetch food from the tent and distribute it.

But they always took food from right by the entrance.

Shi Yuebai, on the other hand, would teleport directly into the middle of the food tent each time.

The entrance was blocked by piles of food.

So everyone assumed the tent was still packed with supplies.

“This is all I can do for you,” Shi Yuebai said, watching Ying Ruoying slip the ring onto her finger.

“After you take the chance to kill Xiao Lingye, run that way.”

She pointed to the area under the bridge where another team was camped.

She also left Ying Ruoying a large bag of food.

Then she wheeled herself away.

Ying Ruoying opened her mouth, wanting to ask this powerful woman if she’d show up again.

But all she could see was Shi Yuebai’s broad, imposing back.

Shi Yuebai raised her hand, and with a “whoosh,” a fireball formed in her palm.

Ying Ruoying’s jaw dropped, her whole body trembling.

W-what did she just see?

What was that?

Oh my god, was that a superpower?

She’d never seen an ability user before.

She’d guessed that Shi Yuebai might have some special powers.

But guessing was one thing; seeing a fireball form above her palm with her own eyes was something else entirely.

Ying Ruoying’s heart pounded wildly.

With such a powerful ability user on her side, how could she possibly fail to kill Xiao Lingye?

Shi Yuebai set fire to the tents along the way.

One after another, tents burst into flames, and chaos finally broke out in Xiao Lingye’s team.

Inside his tent, Xiao Lingye was in a rage, veins bulging on his forehead.

He stormed out to see several tents in his camp ablaze.

“What are you all standing around for? Put out the fire!”

Xiao Lingye was about to explode from anger.

People fleeing their burning tents muttered sourly, “This kind of fire can’t be put out.”

They’d already had plenty of experience with this.

The last few times tents had mysteriously caught fire, everyone had rushed to put them out.

No one suspected the fires couldn’t be extinguished.

But reality had proven otherwise.

No matter what they did, the tents and everything inside burned to ashes.

So this time, most people just stood by and watched, not even bothering to try.

Xiao Lingye was furious at their apathy.

He kicked a man standing nearby.

“I’ve never seen such useless trash! If you can’t put it out, you just give up?”

“You’re all just going to stand there and watch?”

He hadn’t even finished speaking when another tent caught fire.

Then, like mushrooms after the rain, tents all over the camp erupted in flames, lighting up the night with sparks.

The man Xiao Lingye had kicked got up, head down, and started edging away.

Taking advantage of Xiao Lingye’s distraction, he ran straight for the supply tent.

Clearly, not all 400 or so members of the musclebound team were loyal to Xiao Lingye.

Besides Song Yucheng, Zhong Zeqian, and the other members of the search and rescue team—who had always been dissatisfied with Xiao Lingye—there were actually plenty of others in the team who resented him.

He really didn’t have any leadership charisma.

Not only was he hot-tempered, but countless women had died at his hands.

If he’d only bullied women, maybe he wouldn’t be so hated.

But the key was, when Xiao Lingye lost his temper, he didn’t just bully women—he beat up men too.

If people tried to please him, he took it for granted and ordered them around, cursing and hitting.

If they didn’t, he’d threaten their lives.

Honestly, if it weren’t for the team’s strength, no one would want to stay.

Du Hanwen, while running, pulled a few people along with him.

Those people pulled in a few more.

Soon, they’d formed a small group of over a dozen.

Taking advantage of the chaos, they rushed into the food tent and started grabbing whatever they could.

“Take as much as you can—things are only going to get crazier,” Du Hanwen whispered to his friends as he stuffed food into his backpack.

“Hide the food. If things go south, we’ll leave at once.”

They were all among the stronger men in the team.

They’d already agreed to leave Xiao Lingye’s group as soon as the opportunity arose.

But lately, Xiao Lingye had been investigating, trying to figure out which team was poaching his people.

Du Hanwen and the others hadn’t dared make a move.

Tonight was the perfect chance—they had to take as much food as possible before leaving.

No one had ever kept track of exactly how much food there was.

Xiao Lingye might be strong, but he had zero talent for managing a team.

Du Hanwen’s group kept stuffing food into their packs, over and over.

With a crash, the wall of food in front of them collapsed.

Everyone stared in shock at the fallen food wall. How did that happen?

“Damn, why is it all empty back here?”

Someone realized that the food, which had looked piled high, was really just a single layer by the entrance.

The huge tent—no, it was more like a massive warehouse tent.

Where was all the food?

Du Hanwen’s face turned pale.

One of his buddies immediately said, “We have to tell Xiao Lingye—there’s a traitor in the team. Someone’s cleared out all our food!”

Du Hanwen yanked his friend back. “Don’t say a word!”

(In real life, I’m actually not much of a talker, so I tend to come across as very serious and overly strict...)"